We use cookies to improve your experience of our website. Cookies perform functions like recognising you each time you visit and delivering advertising messages that are relevant to you. Read more here

Quick links

Make Bradford British

Series 1-Episode 2

Add this to your watchlist to find out when it is available via broadcast or catch-up.

Watchlist

ADVERTISEMENT

Review

by Jane Rackham

The second part of this social experiment into what makes a person British pairs up the eight residents of Bradford in West Yorkshire and gets them to spend time in each other’s homes.

A simple premise, a bit like Wife Swap maybe, but actually a number of them do start to reconsider their attitudes. The most remarkable and heart-warming turnaround involves Damon, who likes to drink and admits he’s gone a bit “mad” in the past – so it’s a shock to his system to be teamed up with the ultra-strict Muslim Rashid.

However, Desmond, Audrey and Sabbiyah also learn a lot from their counterparts. They all return to the community house for a last chat – all of them bar one, that is.

Summary

The sociological experiment concludes with the participants being paired up to learn about each other's backgrounds. A black man shows a retired policeman the estate where he once suffered a racially motivated attack, and a landlady invites a Muslim woman to work in a pub where the locals challenge her over her traditional attire. A welder comes away with a changed view of Islam after visiting one of the city's 80 mosques, while a self-confessed feminist invites taxi driver Mohammed to a classic British dinner party and questions him about his cultural views on women.